


Tell Me Your Purpose is Petty Again

by LadyVisenya



Series: this kid is (not) alright [1]
Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Pining, ain't no one got time to deal with their issues, like he'll think it for a second and just shove that shit back, like mostly bc of richies abusive and v terrible parents, this is a vibe and a half considering i wrote it instead of sleeping, which is very apperent if u focus on what richies thinking, which same like, who has money for therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 01:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12266019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyVisenya/pseuds/LadyVisenya
Summary: Richie is in Senior year of high school and somehow he has nothing to do on Halloween. Even the other loser's having things going on. How is Richie still the biggest Loser? What even is his life?





	Tell Me Your Purpose is Petty Again

**Author's Note:**

> the losers are all 17-18 years old. Pennywise was just something Georgie made up to deal with the trauma of losing his arm in a freak accident. title taken from a kendrick lamar song.

**October 31st**

**10:34 am**

_ya boi - so what we doing 4 halloween squad_

_eddie spaghetti - u really think My Mom would let me go out on hALLOWEEN !!!_

_stan the man - The synagogue is having a get together for all the kids and I’m volunteering._

_eddie spaghetti - ^^^^_

_bev in marshland - o.0 i thought u didnt use ur phone during skool ??_

_bev in marshland - haunted house remember w ben and mike is2g i told u this a thousand times_

_ya boi - IT DOESNT COUNT IF IM HIGH AF_

_ya boi - bill bill bill_

_ya boi - ????_

_ya boi - friendship with bill cancelled_

_ya boi - stan is my bf now_

**12:49 pm**

It sucked not having Bill in any of his classes. It was a miracle seeing as how small their high school was. Richie wanted to fight the little shit right now. Even fucking Stan of all people responded to his bat signal. 

He was probably analyzing Shakespeare while biting his stupid lip, looking good as fuck, or whatever AP English did. Richie wouldn’t know. He was fine with cruising through high school. He just wanted to graduate so he could leave Derry and never come back here again. 

Richie kept an eye out for Bill as he used passing period to buy some weed of Criss. He had only once made the mistake off trying to buy weed of off Bowers and had had the worst trip of his life. Fucking Bowers. 

It had been all right once Beverly had gotten to their usual spot. She had held his hand, talking him through it all until his breathing returned to normal. Until the shadows became shapes became clouds dancing through his head. He had finally seen why Ben was so in love with Beverly. 

Why couldn’t he be in love with her? 

She was awfully pretty and always laughed at Richie’s dumb jokes even when the rest of them told him to shut up. The first time he’d gotten high had been with her. 

“Better than cigarettes and without the health cost,” she’d said with a wink. 

Even Bill, who never had a crush because he was so stuck in his own head all the time, had a crush on Beverly. 

Fuck. 

“I’m not volunteering at the fucking haunted house. I could make a better haunted house in my sleep,” he said, sliding into his usual seat next to Eddie.

“That’s why no one invited you dumbass,” Beverly snorted. She had a bottle of sparkly purple nail polish open as she carefully painted Mike’s nails. The air reeked. 

“It’ll be fun,” Ben added.

“Funner than the synagogue,” Eddie muttered, spearing a slice of cantaloupe. 

“Who the fuck eats during lunch?”

“Fuck off. You’re going to be sorry once you hit twenty and become all obese because you threw your metabolism off.”

“That’s not how-,” Stan started, rolling his eyes, “It doesn’t matter but he has a point.”

“It’s too early in the morning for this shit.”

Mike gave him a look, the one that all his friends reserved for him, “It’s almost one.” Bill wouldn’t do this to him. He’d probably give Richie his juice box. He’d even started bringing two in his lunch. 

Bless Georgie for still making his mother buy juice boxes. Richie had always wanted them when he was in elementary school and not the shitty school lunches that they gave out to kids who couldn’t pay for the less shitty ones. 

“Yeah bitch. I meant what I said.” 

“Want my apple slices,” Ben offers.

“What am I five?” he looked around, expecting Bill to appear any second. He was always ten minutes late. Richie would always tease him, telling him that he was in love with his english teacher, probably boning her instead of coming to lunch with them. But Bill never cared. 

He always let Richie talk his head off until he ran out of things to say and just wanted to nap. It was then that Bill would read to him, slowly and carefully to avoid stuttering. His voice was so soft and smooth, Richie could listen to Bill read all day. 

“Bill isn’t here today,” Mike tells him, “he wasn’t in AP Art or AP English.”

“Didn’t he have a thing with Georgie,” Ben said, glancing around. 

“I’m not looking for Bill. I don’t care if he ditches or not,” Richie muttered.

“Sure you don’t,” Bev replied, with her most indulgent smile plastered to her face. He almost says something about how it makes her look like her dad, but he’s not that mean. 

So instead he goes off. “I don’t care if Bill comes to school or not. Why the fuck would I care!” He realized too late how loud he had yelled, his words echoing through the cafeteria. Fuck. He was so fucked if this got back to his parents. 

“Beep beep Richie,” Stan added in the most sarcastic tone much too late. What an asshole. 

“Whatever, I’m going for a smoke. Tell your mom not to wait up for me Eddie dear,” he said going for Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins. He could’ve sworn he’d watched that movie at some point. It was one of those movies everyone watched as a kid. That probably meant he had watched it too. Probably.  

 **1:02 pm**  

_bev in marshland - warn a man before ditching dumbass_

_bev in marshland - nearly didn't cover for ur pale ass_

_ya boi - *bruno mars voice* kiss my ass im so pretty_

_bev in marshland - not even if i swung that was my mans_

_bev in marshland - also hopkins somehow Didnt realize ur collage was just dicks_

_ya boi - IM TELLING YOU HE JST RANDOMLY GRADES_

_bev in marshland - its a slacker class_

_bev in marshland - a for effort_

_bev in marshland - also tell billy i said hi_

_ya boi - fuck off_

_ya boi - i have other friends u kno_

_bev in marshland - name 1_

_ya boi - get fucked beverly elisabeth marsh_

**1:12 pm**

Bill was so fucking perfect it was ridiculous. Attractive, funny, and smart. It was frankly unfair that he also had a tree he could clim right outside his window. Unlike Richie who had to shimmy down a drain pipe that had resulted in a twisted ankle, two hairline fractures, and countless scratches.  Not to mention the clear skin. Asshole never knew what acne was. 

Georgie’s the one to open the window for him. “We weren’t going to finish my costume by tonight if we didn’t skip.”

“Care to share with the class?”

Georgie just grinned, looking less like a boy and more like peter pan about to go on an adventure. 

“E-Edward Scissorhands,” Bill called out from the floor. And sure enough, he was sitting amiss leather scraps and metal bits. “The hands were h-harder than we thought.”

“But perfect for my prosthetic,” Georgie chimes in, waving said prosthetic around with his other hand. Richie grins. This boy is savage and only thirteen. 

“You ditched without me,” Richie said, placing a hand over his heart in mock offense, “why billiam a lady could think you didn’t care about her.”

“I figured yuh-you’d get here sooner or later,” Bill said with a soft smile looking right at Richie. Really, how was he supposed to manage? “Besides, you ditch enough w-without.”

“Art 1 is a fucking joke.”

“I told you to take Art with me,” Bill replies, passing something to glue together, “that way we c-could’ve shared a class.” 

“No way dude. Anything AP means work.”

“B-but it’s senior year. And you’re the o-only one I don’t have a class with.” Richie could swear Bill was pouting, biting on his lower lip, while fixing those wide blue eyes on Richie. 

“If you had asked me with that look I’d have said yes,” Richie says, raising an eyebrow suggestively. Bill’s cheeks heat up, flushing pink. He looks away from Richie, smiling softly before asking, “what are you doing for halloween?”

Richie just groans. “Read the family newsletter once in a while Billiam!”

That gets a laugh out of Georgie, “he never answers his phone! like ever.”

“Your brother is a monster.”

“I know! He’s always stealing my juice boxes!”

“Billiam! How could you!”

The tips of Bill’s ears go red, but he lets them tease him anyways. God Richie could just about-

Only Beverly knew. And that was only because she’d come out to all of them sophomore year after Ben had asked her out. Poor Ben, but he’d gotten over it quickly after that. 

But Richie wasn’t stupid enough to give his parents another reason to hate him. They might actually kick him out. And in this small town things got around fast. 

Just get through this year. 

Just get through this year.

“Georgie’s going out with his friends to teepee a house. Plus Vy.”

“Shut up Bill!” Georgie wraps his arms around Bill’s neck in the most half hearted chokehold ever. 

“I bet she likes you back.”

“Yeah, who wouldn’t.” Richie doesn’t mean to glance at Bill, but he does. His gaze has been sliding to Bill more and more. Ever since the summer after middle school when Eddie had spent the night at the hospital and Richie had to find some other place to spend the night. Bill hadn’t even asked, he’d just let him right in. Somehow, it was different from spending the night with Eddie. Richie had laid awake long after Bill, watching the moonlight fall on Bill’s face, jawline still soft from his cheek fluff. 

Richie had had a hard time swallowing, heart going all funny. 

Now Richie couldn’t help but look at Bill and wonder how much longer they had together before graduation and Richie’s inevitable flight from Derry. He had enough saved up for a motorcycle and a couple months on the road. 

Georgie shakes his head, flushing as bright red as his brother did. “You don’t even know who she is!”

“Well we could do something,” Bill says, glancing up at him, “if y-you want.”

“Sounds like a plan my mans.”

**2:51pm**

_b. handsome - tell bill we have a quiz in calc 1_

_mike & ike - how’s georgie’s costume coming along? _

_ya boi - 1) why does every1 think i went 2 c bill ???_

_ya boi - and 2 how da fuk did he pass precalc_

_ya boi - he was in my class and he was #bad_

_b. handsome - we had study sessions_

_b. handsome - which we invited You 2_

_stan the man - You are so lucky Bill never checks his phone._

_ya boi - dis isnt an email 2 ur teach er S T A N_

_ya boi - also: how do u kno that he was working on georgies costume ? ??_

_stan the man - This feels like the response an academic email would get._

_mike & ike - bill told me. not rocket science my dude_

_eddie spagetti - so u WERE @ bills_

_ya boi - ur all cancelled_

_ya boi - im out here trying to be a #good friend and ur dragging me 4 it?????_

_ya boi - wheres the concern 4 ur bro_

_stan the man - Don’t you have work right now?_

**3:02pm**

“You’re late.”

“For fuck’s sake Christie, it’s two minutes. I’m practically early.”

The old woman shakes her head as Richie pulls the apron on. “We close at six today anyways Christie. Jesus.”

“Don’t forget the damn hair net,” she tells him as he goes to check what orders need to be filled. Richie imagines this was what kids meant when they talked about their moms baking. The warmth of the oven heating the place as the sugary sweet smell of fresh bread filled the room. 

“If you ask me you need a haircut young man.”

Bill plays with his curls sometimes. His delicate artist hands running through his hair as Richie babbled on and on. “Too bad no one asked you Christie.”

She threw back her head, her whole body lighting up as she laughed. Strands of her gray hair fell out of her ever present bun. “You’ve got moxie kid. Don’t lose it.”

They worked in comfortable silence. It was so unlike the silence that fell in Richie’s house. Silence there meant walking on eggshells trying not to wake his mother, or even worse, his father from his drunken slumber. 

Here, Christie played old jazz records that had to be older than her. Mostly Nina Simone. Or the rock from her youth in the sixties. She practically belonged in an overpriced vintage hipster shop. The kind Bill and Stan loved. 

Her favorite Beatles album was saved for Sunday mornings when Richie would help her make soufflés, which were a pain in the ass but christie made them look easy. 

But Richie’s favorite _had_ to be the thousand leaf cake. It was made to order and Richie had only had it twice, but he had nearly died on the spot from the taste. 

“Christie,” he asked, realizing he had no halloween costume for tonight and his not date with Bill, “you wouldn’t happen to have a halloween costume lying around?”

“Boy,” she said archly, “you do realize that today is halloween?”

“And I keep on telling you, it’s practically early for me.”

**6:07pm**

_ya boi - last mins halloween costume ideas that r GOOD_

_ya boi - go !_

_eddie spaghetti  - a ghost_

_b. handsome - a tourist_

_mike & ike - a cat?_

_bev in marshland - 404 error_

_ya boi - i feel like thats 2 clever and probs stolen from buzzfeed so . . ._

_stan the man - You could go as a couch potato._

_ya boi - u all sux_

_bev in marshland - wait_

_bev in marshland - what r You doing 2nite_

_bev in marshland - RICHARD_

_bev in marshland - !!!!!!_

**7:18pm**

Richie is running late but he has something to make up for it. He only hopes his half ass costume goes unnoticed. Pretty much everything he does is half assed, but he’s managed to float on by like that. Hell, even his bike was half rusted, half pieces he’d scavenged from the local junkyard. That he still managed to get around on it was a miracle. 

It had been bought second hand from a garage sale. Richie had gone through his entire house fishing around for change to pay for it. He had kept it at Eddie’s for a week, convinced his mom would think he had stolen money from her. 

Bill’s waiting on the curb for him. He’s wearing a navy jumpsuit, some cargo vest, and clear plastic googles on his head. “Are you supposed to be some sort of mad scientist?” Richie can’t keep up with all of Bill’s dumb nerd stuff.

“I was g-going to be someone from game of thrones but then season seven started-,” he explained. “So I went with Star Wars. And you’re Malcolm from Jurassic Park?”

“Have I ever told you I love you.”

Bill laughs and it makes Richie’s smile go all dopey, his knees weak. 

“Stan said I was s-such a book purist for not liking season seven.”

“Watch it Bill, use small words for small minds.”

“You’re really f-fucking clever Richie. How else would you keep coming up with your mom jokes after nine years.” Bill fixes him with a grin, teasing. 

“It’s all in the timing my young apprentice.”

He takes out a flask full of vodka that Christie had donated to the cause. “You wouldn’t happen to have some more juice boxes laying around.”

Bill grabs the flask out of Richie’s hand, unscrewing the lid, “p-pussy.” He chokes, face going all blotchy red as Richie hits his back. 

The vodka survives unharmed, but now Richie is so close to Bill, his arm around Bill, patting him on the back. Richie’s face is right next to Bill’s and he hadn’t even noticed that he was still taller than him. Or how warm Bill was? 

Richie pulls away, taking a sip himself. It burns as it goes down. 

They opt for going to the cemetery for an appropriately spooky setting as they pass the flask between them and lay by the gravestones. Their knees bumping together as they talk. 

Richie doesn’t mind the damp grass as Bill names the stars in the sky, knowing all the stories that go along with them. “It was a whole unit in english,” he admits before launching into something about an Andromeda who Richie thought was a character in Harry Potter and not some princess but he isn't complaining. 

The vodka brings warmth and courage and when Bill turns to Richie, he doesn’t hesitate to press his lips against Bill’s, kissing him. It’s messy and sloppy. Richie blames it on the vodka. But it sends Richie’s head spinning, breathe hitching. 

It was nothing like the time he’d kissed Hannah Brim at a middle school dance after Bowers had made her cry and Richie had been a good person for once. 

He pulls away quickly, scrambling up and wanting to die without ever facing Bill again. He dusts the dirt off of his black jeans. 

“W-wait,” Bill whispers, “Richie.”’

Richie looks down. 

Bill’s eyes are wide, moonlight enhancing his features making him look like an elf right out of Lord of the Rings. So beautiful it makes Richie’s heart ache. 

“Surprise, I’m gay,” he says, going for his usual mechanism for repressing all of his problems, humor. 

“Richie,” Bill stammers out in such a pained tone that scares him. Richie knows what come next. 

He’s been through this a thousand times in his head. Bill being repealed in disgust. Never wanting to see Richie again. Or smiling cruelly, telling him they’re just friends. And only friends. He doesn’t know which is worse. 

Richie’s eyes widen in surprise as Bill drags him down, bringing his lips against his, kissing him. It’s soft and sweet and Bill obviously knows what he’s doing. Bill’s hand cups Richie’s cheek. 

He doesn’t question it, melting into the kiss. Into the feel of Bill’s lips against his. The taste of vodka and mint from the lip balm Bill always carries around. Richie’s hands reach for Bill, wanting more. Wanting to never let this moment right out of his daydreams end.

“I’d always thought I’d be a top,” he muses, as they both pause for air, breathless. 

“Beep beep Richie.”

They’re definitely going to have to talk about this. Later.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know if you want more of this. like the fic after where the losers find out and Richie and Bill go on their very gay roadtrip before Bill starts uni.


End file.
